If you're a Christmas-lover, you're going to love Cardiff's Winter Wonderland, full stop. I came…read morehere on the 23rd and the atmosphere was fantastic. ~ Atmosphere: Really where the stars come from! Even though the place is super crowded, it wasn't dirty because there was constantly staff walking around ensuring that all the litter left by drunk people were cleaned up. There's music playing and be sure to snag a seat by huge German sausage BBQ pit, the smell is divine! The Christmas decor was top notch as well, with the traditional wood cabins for all the food stalls and shops. ~ Variety: The main reason why they don't get a full 5 stars from me. Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of things to do if you have kids. A good 3/4 of the event space is composed of kid-friendly rides! Guaranteed that your children would be massively entertained for hours here. Unfortunately, my partner and I didn't have any kids and adult entertainment is limited. There's ice skating, a bar, ice sculpture viewing, and a ferris wheel. A small selection of things that doesn't really populate an entire evening (though I guess you can spend plenty of time at the bar). ~ Food: The food they had here was definitely amazing, though I'm slightly disappointed at the choices. They had plenty of drinks options, but only sausages for hot food. Desserts however include crepes; nutella crepes anybody?! They were absolutely delicious! --- Overall, Winter Wonderland gets a 4 stars from me. Lacking in entertainment for adults, but what I did get I was really happy with!

The Winter Wonderland is the most Christmasy thing to possibly do this side of the North Pole…read more Now be warned this make-shift park is only open from November and closes in the January, so try and plan your visit around these dates if you fancy a 'festive fancy'. With an ice-rink, fairground, tents filled to the brim with winter warmers and treats, if your not feeling festive by the time you've left your name must be Ebaneezer. Even me, the harshest Christmas critic left planning on putting a tree up. With so much to do and such a pretty, happy atmosphere this is a must for people who still believe in the guy with the red suit. The ice rink is a nice size and plays up to the date chart music mixed in with the odd carol. Staff have that friendly aura that usually only comes with Disney Land. The hot chocolate, although slightly pricey is seriously out of this world and if you feel like being really cheeky add a sneaky Baileys. I'm off now to play; 'Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!'

As far as I'm aware, Escal Amusements own a couple of amusement arcades in Cardiff. Typically they…read moreare positioned in the less affluent areas, and are always within easy walking distance of betting shops and pawn brokers. I find this fact a tad tragic, but I understand the human urge to indulge in a little bit of escapism every now and then. My vice is DVD's in this respect, but thankfully I've found a really inexpensive reliable source of quality films with which to feed my addiction, and so my endorphin rushes are unlikely to break the bank! As well as this outlet, there's another Escal Amusements arcade on City Road. They are both replete with a range of soul-sucking slots and all the latest arcade games, all of which are highly addictive despite not being able to offer the user anything above an adrenaline and endorphin rush. (I like to think that films can be in some way instructive or educational... or am I just kidding myself?) I guess that some of the arcade games improve the users level of dexterity, and ultimately exercise their grey matter as a sequence of rapid decisions need to be made whilst playing the games, but what about the slots? Aren't these just like the adult version of Fisher Price toys? And what's edifying about that?

Cashino! How naff is that? I often take objection to business names that play on words and ideas,…read moreultimately mutilating our language like a blood-thirsty surgeon with a blunt blade, or, business owners, in their desperate effort to come up with something that they deem to be 'clever', who seem bent on following a dubious process that lures them ever further away from what is sensible, finally spewing them out at a destination clearly signposted 'Beyond The Pale'. But these poor frazzled souls are so wrapt by their own intelligence and imagination, and are so exhausted by their cerebral odyssey, that they have no more mental faculty to realise that they have been blithely venturing firmly into the realms of bad taste. The worst example of this that I have ever come across is in Bristol; a card and gift shop named Cardiac! Nevertheless, Cashino really works... it even makes me smile. Who cares that you need to develop a speech impediment in order to say it right? Or that it doesn't actually reveal whose cash they are talking about... leaving it so open to interpretation that you could actually believe that it is 'their' cash that is about to enter your pocket should you opt to step inside to play the slots, with lady luck on your arm ... Well, I'm going to let you into a secret... it's actually your cash that they are talking about, and it's going to end up in their pocket! But, for your pains, you will have had an addiction-inducing rush of endorphins that will ensure that you come back before too long to feed the hungry one arm bandits again. Tanning and slots... it says it all really doesn't it?

I'm not really impressed by this kind of entertainment ever, but if you're into slot machines and…read morewasting all your hard earned money then this is the place for you.